Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science

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Article http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2021.01.017

Crossing the Border Between Elitist and Popular Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Goethe’s Bride of Corinth and Meyer’s Twilight Saga

Sayaka Oki

Doshisha University, Japan.

*Corresponding author: Sayaka Oki

Published: June 21,2021

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the image of the spiritual vampire in Goethe’s Bride of Corinth (1797) and Meyer’s Twilight series (2005-2010). Written at the end of the 18th century in the High Classical literary period, Goethe’s work does not seem to suit the trivial, cannibalistic subject of the vampire as a literary theme, yet has focused on the high literary motif of “mentality” to construct a spiritual vampire bride who falls in love with a pagan youth. This paper interprets Goethe’s ballade as the significant origin of the notion of the love story between a spiritual vampire and a human being. This motif was further developed in Meyer’s postmodern literature series, Twilight, through the romance between an idealized vampire, Edward Cullen, and an adolescent girl, Bella Swan. Meyer’s Twilight became an international bestseller with cross-generational fandom. From these contexts, this paper examines depictions of absolute love between vampires and human beings in both literary works, along with their symbolic meanings. Accordingly, crucial themes considered include religious differences, gender roles, marginalization (of freaks of nature), and binary tropes. Framed by Leslie Fiedler’s literary theory of postmodernism, the paper demonstrates the ways in which the vampire motif of Meyer’s saga bridges the gap between high and low/popular culture by reproducing elements of prototypical folklores and fairy tales for modern mass consumption.

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How to cite this paper

Crossing the Border Between Elitist and Popular Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Goethe's Bride of Corinth and Meyer's Twilight Saga

How to cite this paper: Sayaka Oki. (2021) Crossing the Border Between Elitist and Popular Literature: A Comparative Analysis of Goethe's Bride of Corinth and Meyer's Twilight SagaJournal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science5(1), 166-178.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2021.01.017